Direction may not have happened to Aditya Datt, had it not been for his maternal grandfather, celebrated lyricist Anand Bakshi. It was Bakshi who recognised and encouraged Datt’s interest in cinema. In a sweet gesture of remembrance, the director has included one of his grandfather’s quirks in his upcoming film, Gunmaaster G9. Recalling that the lyricist had a distinctive way of smoking, he suggested that leading man Emraan Hashmi incorporate it in his character.

“My grandfather used to smoke in a particular way. I told Emraan that he should smoke like that,” shared Datt. 

The director remembered that as soon as Bakshi understood his grandson’s interest in filmmaking, he tested his storytelling instinct. It was the lyricist, in fact, who guided him to learn the craft from filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt.

Datt recalled, “When I told my grandfather that I wanted to make films, he didn’t simply dismiss it as a passing phase. He actually tested me. He asked me to narrate a story, heard me out, and then told me to go meet Mahesh Bhatt. That was his way of figuring out whether I was serious about cinema.” 

If Bakshi had a knack for telling stories through his simple and emotional lyrics rooted in truth, Datt’s language is more heightened and emphatic. With Gunmaaster G9 that also stars Genelia Deshmukh, the director has told the story of Hashmi’s protagonist who sheds his peaceful life and turns into an assassin after a mafia syndicate threatens his wife.

The director reflected, “My way of narrating cinema is that I do larger-than-life things. It’s not reality because I’m not making a documentary or trying to be realistic, but it has to have screen logic when you see it. I need to give the answers on the screen.”